Renew Your Caregiving Spirit for the New Year

To us, caring is all about personal relationships. In this blog, you'll get to know co-founder Lori Hogan as she personally shares about what's in our hearts and on our minds, whether it's an inspirational story about a senior or caregiver, a helpful care tip, or commentary on the latest news about how we're working together to enhance the lives of older adults.

Renew Your Caregiving Spirit for the New Year

Caring for a cherished family member offers many rewards strengthening bonds with loved ones, sharing daily successes and clarifying life's true priorities. But caregiving can also drain our energy and strength. Sometimes this becomes very evident during the hectic holiday season. If you feel the recent holidays sapped your caregiving strength, here are some ways to renew yourself in the New Year

Give yourself the gift of alone time. Whether it means browsing the mall alone, soaking in a hot bath or closing the bedroom door for a nap (or to curl up with that good book!), put a plan in place to make sure you have time to focus on yourself. Regularly recharging your batteries this way will renew your caregiving energy.

Open your heart to accepting help from others. Sometimes we believe we're open to receiving help with caregiving, but we subconsciously put up barriers "You don't bathe Dad right," "Mom needs to eat at exactly five o'clock." Search your heart to see if you're truly open to allowing family members, friends, church groups and other caregivers to take over for a few hours. They may not do things exactly the way you would do them, but you know what? That's OK. Trust that your family members and friends will do their very best to care for your loved one while you're away for a few hours or days.

I hope this list inspires you to invest in yourself in 2015. Remember, you cannot serve water from an empty vessel. When you keep your caregiving vessel full in energy and spirit, you can better help the ones you love.